The flood situation in upper Assam on Friday worsened due to very heavy rain in the past 24 hours, inundating more areas of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Dibrugarh district.
According to the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) report issued this morning, river Brahmaputra at Dibrugarh and river Subansiri at Lakhimpur were flowing way above the danger level.
The communication with entire Dhemaji district had been snapped as both the National Highway and Railway lines had been submerged under flood water.
According to UNI report, Friday morning, a major tragedy was averted when all the 30 occupants of a boat swam to safety after it capsized in Majuli river.
VK Pipersenia, Principal Secretary, Revenue, informed that more 250 villages in Dhemaji were inundated. In Lakhimpur district, Kakoi river burst its banks at three places, affecting seven villages. The National Highway suffered heavy erosion at several points, though there was no breach.
One contingent of the National Disaster Response Force was assisting the administration in evacuating the people from the two districts. The state government requested the NDRF to rush one more contingent, he said.
The situation has aggravated with the release of extra water from the Ranganadi hydel project as Lakhimpur town was under threat following this round of flood. Almost all the rivers of the district - Subansiri, Kakoi, Ghagar, Ranganadi, Singara and Dikrong - are in spate.
So far two lakh people have been affected by the flood on the North bank while on South Bank, Assam’s second biggest city Dibrugarh continues to remain under knee deep water and there was no possibility of natural drainage as the river Brahamputra has been flowing at least one and half feet above the surface level of Dibrugarh township.
The flood relief work has also been hampered as majority of the district administration was busy with the Independence Day celebration preparations.
For a state which has been suffering from unprecedented drought, the latest wave of rain has actually come as a boon and except Nagaon and Morigaon districts, all other areas were having very good rainfall in the past one month.